One missed call
by sonicking2004
Summary: When the Government launched a nuke to end the Chitauri invasion, it was up to the Invincible Iron Man to save the day. Convinced that he was not going to make it back, he tried to call Pepper Potts to say his goodbyes, but she was too distracted by the news to answer. But what if she wasn't? This short one-shot covers my idea of that AU event. Rated for mild language.


**One Missed Call…**

As Tony detects the launch of a nuclear missile speeding towards Manhattan, he heard Ms. Romanoff say "I can close it! Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" then he heard Cap reply, "Do it!" Knowing that if they did so now, then all would be lost, Tony said hurriedly, "No, wait!"

"Stark, these things are still coming!" Tony heard Cap say back to him, concerned tension in his voice.

Locking onto the missile and entering an intercept trajectory, Tony responds, "I've got a nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than a minute," then, as he plots a course correction for them both, he adds, "and I know just where to put it!"

As he grips the missile with both hands and settles it between his shoulder blades, Jarvis puts the display showing the remaining power (which was bottoming out) and the structural integrity of his damaged suit (no way was this thing going to hold an atmosphere in space), Cap vocalized the obvious as he said, "Stark, you know that is a one way trip?"

_No I didn't. Thanks for pointing out that for me, Cap!_ Tony thought sarcastically. Aloud, he said, "Save the rest for the turn, J!"

Displaying Pepper's profile that he'd attached to her speed dial, Jarvis suggested, "Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?"

_I don't even know what I'm going to say!_ Tony thought to himself, _But maybe I'll think of something by the time she answers. At least she'll know I was thinking of her in the end. _ "Might as well," Tony responds to Jarvis nonchalantly.

* * *

As Pepper was watching the violence unfold on the TV in the company jet, her thoughts were in turmoil. She had just left Tony in Manhattan last night, and now the whole city has been turned into a warzone! Was Tony over there still, maybe trying to fight them all by himself?

She thought that she'd caught glimpses of some of the guys she'd seen from the files of the Avengers Initiative, but with the chaos of the firefight and the huge numbers of the invaders involved, it was difficult to determine if she'd really seen them or if it was only wishful thinking. Maybe she should have convinced him to take his "homework" with him and come with her on this trip.

She couldn't say what drew her eyes to her phone at that moment, but she saw it lit up and vibrating. Rushing over, she saw that Tony was calling her. Pushing the Answer button, she tried to suppress the panic in her voice as she said, "Tony?"

"Hey, Pep. What's up?" she heard Tony say, a forced lightness in his voice.

" 'What's up?' "Pepper responded in disbelief, the panic leaking out in her tone, "Do you know what is happening in New York right now?"

"Actually, yeah I do," Tony said in response, "My friends and I are kinda in the middle of it."

_Of course they are,_ Pepper thought to herself, then she noticed a loud background noise that was unlike the noise of the Iron Man's thrusters. "Tony, what's that roaring noise I hear on the line?" Pepper asked.

"Nothing, really. Just a Nuke," Tony said simply.

Pepper's heart skipped a beat when she heard that. Surely she'd misheard! "Did you say it was a Nuke!?" Pepper asked in her panic.

"Yeah," Tony answered, "Seems some button pushers in Washington panicked and pressed the button. But I think our alien visitors will like this gift better that we will, so I'm going to hand deliver it to them on their doorstep."

Her heart starting to slow, she asked, "But you'll be okay, right?"

"Just a minute," She heard Tony say before the noise she'd recognized as Tony's thrusters grow louder, followed shortly by a sound like that of metal scraping on glass, telling her that he'd just barely been able to clear a building. "Actually, Pepper, I'm afraid I may have to put our plans on hold, possibly indefinitely."

Her heart sinking into her stomach, Pepper barely managed to whisper, "What?"

"I'm putting everything I have left into redirecting this missile into the wormhole, and Jarvis says there won't be anything left for the return," Tony answers her, "Besides, my suit was heavily damaged in the battle, and then there's the EMP of the Nuke to deal with. I'm afraid I might not make it back."

Her voice cracking from the emotional strain, Pepper tries to argue, "But….but can't you…"

"Uh, Pep, I'm about to go through a wormhole, so I may end up losing connection," Tony interrupts her quickly, "So before we get cut off, I just want to say I lo…"

As the line goes dead, Pepper asks in a broken voice, "Tony?" When no response is heard, she looks at her phone and sees that the call was cut off. Feeling her heart shatter, she numbly started to enter the number to call him back as tears streamed down her face.

* * *

As he releases the missile, the HUD display in his visor goes dark as the last of the power is drained from the stores in the ARC generator in his chest. The combination of the lack of oxygen and his heart failing was making him very drowsy, but he was able to make out the bright flash as the nuke exploded against the side of the aliens' mothership. The drowsiness soon grew too great though, and as the fireball closed in on him his last thought was, _I'll see you on the other side, Pepper._

As Tony became aware of the sensation of his falling, Tony became rather confused. _ I thought you flew to get to Heaven!_ Tony thought,_ I guess the weight of my past sins were too great, and I'm going to the other place instead. I guess I'm not going to see Pepper later after all. At least, I hope not: She's too good a person to come down here, after all. Far too good to be with someone like me. I would have at least wanted to witness the bright lights, the gatekeeper narrating my litany of sins. I didn't even see my life flash before my eyes. What a gyp!_

He wasn't sure how long he fell, but after a while he felt a lurching sensation, but as he was still unable to open his eyes he was unaware of what caused it. After one more lurch, the sensation of falling stopped. A moment of stillness, then the light behind his eyelids brightened significantly, but the breeze upon his face was much cooler that he'd expected it to be in that other place. _Maybe I made it to Heaven after all! Tony thought with relief, Perhaps soon I'll hear a chorus of angels to wake me from my slumber._

"GRROOAAAARRRRR" The sound that assaulted his ears was not a Heavenly chorus, and Tony opened his eyes in shock as he gasped for air. As his eyes focused, he saw that the one who roared was the Hulk, who roared again in triumph.

"What the hell?" Tony said as his eyes glanced around at those who were gathered around him, "What just happened?" When nobody immediately answered, Tony said imploringly, "Please tell me nobody kissed me."

After taking a few gasping breaths, an exhausted Steve Rogers said, "We won."

Sighing with relief, Tony remained in his prone position and briefly raised his hand in a thumbs up gesture as he said, "All right, yay! Hurray. Good job, guys. Let's not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

After a brief smile, Thor said with utmost seriousness, "We're not finished yet."

Right, Tony thought, forgot about horn-head. "Then shawarma after."

As Thor helped him to his feet, Jarvis piped up in his ear, "Sir, you have one missed call from Miss Potts." Then, as he heard the tone from his suit's link to his cell phone, Jarvis added, "And she's now calling again."

"One second guys," Tony called out to the others, "I need to take this call real quick." Then he placed one hand to his head in the gesture to answer the call and he said, "Hi pepper, it's me. Yeah, sorry about worrying you, but the biggest, ugliest, greenest alarm clock in history just woke me up. Well, the guys and I are now going to show an uninvited guest the way out of our tower, which is going to need some major remodeling done, and I'll give you 100% credit on that one. Then I'll go out for some shawarma with them afterwards, after which I'm sure you'll be back in town and we can maybe go out dancing or something. Sure, whatever you'd like. Love you Pepper, see you soon." Then he disconnected the call and followed the others to Stark Tower.


End file.
